The ultimate gadgets for snowy adventures

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Now that the ski season is well and truly upon us, and that you may have already this year experienced the joys of the piste and some après ski, there may well be some more intrepid Luxury readers out there looking to take on some extreme alpine action before the snow disappears.

Fortunately, the tech involved in back country pursuits has been getting better and better these last few years, so a trip to the frozen wilds need not be as arduous as a polar expedition or even as exerting as a morning stint of langlaufen.

The Christini II-Track Snow utility bike

Take the new Christini II-Track Snow utility bike, for example. The Philadelphia-based company has been selling 2x2 motorbikes for years, but now the brand has decided to introduce this snow bike with serious traction. Designed for both military and recreational use, the $8,395 II-Track Snow utility bike uses a snow track at the front, positioned between a split ski to provide stability. The track is driven by the front hub which is powered by an all-wheel drive system. Cleverly, by adjusting this front track, you can set-up the bike for differing conditions, say, hard-packed ice or even soft sand. At the back is the dirt bike swing arm, which means this the II-Track can fit with standard snow track systems.

Of course, once your II-Track Snow bike has whisked you off to the middle of nowhere, you going to need somewhere to hunker down for the long, cold night. This is where the smart explorer packs a Heimplanet tent. The Hamburg-based company specialises in producing proper outdoor structures that are not held up by bendy poles that take forever to link together and thread through tiny loops, but are in fact inflatable. All one needs is a pump and in minutes the tent can be up and serviceable, which is especially handy if it’s dark.

Mavericks tent

The pride of their collection is the awesome Mavericks tent. Designed especially for extreme conditions, the €5,500 Mavericks can be used as base camp or a group tent as it houses up to 10 people. It is enormous, offering an internal height of two metres and more than 13-square-metres of ground space. The genius of it is that not only can this colossal tent be set up by just one person, its unique geodesic structure means that is designed to withstand wind speeds up to 180km/h. Indeed, it is so stable that guy lines are only necessary in such extreme conditions. Five doors and five closable windows ensure easy access and ventilation (should you want it), and the groundsheet can be easily removed.

So, with transport and accommodation sorted, all you now need is to find somewhere suitably remote to test out this new all-conditions kit; leave the likes of Courchevel to the amateurs.